Sound isolating (SI) earphones and headsets are becoming increasingly popular for music listening and voice communication. Existing SI earphones enable the user to hear an incoming audio content signal (such as speech or music audio) clearly in loud ambient noise environments, by attenuating the level of ambient sound in the user's ear canal.
A disadvantage of SI earphones/headsets is that the user may be acoustically detached from their local sound environment. Thus, communication with people in the user's immediate environment may therefore impaired.